Reading Charla and Amy's notes on working out motivated me to write about our weedend with VHPA.........no, that isn't Very Happy People Anonymous, even though I think that would be a fun organization to join. It's the
Vietnam Helicopter Pilots Association 
Ray has been a member for several years, but we had never attended one of their reunions. In 2004 we met up with his flight class in Washington, DC. for an awesome long weekend. To see a pic of that handsome man-o- mine while in flight class.....
CLICK. (hint: bottom R.) Ray was in Vietnam in '72 and part of '73. He served in an Air-Cav unit whose primary assignment was to search and destroy. He was in country for about a year and traveled back to the states on one of the last airplanes bringing troops back. The tall fellow standing behind him in the pic is Mike G. Ray and Mike went through flight school together, flew to Vietnam together, roomed in Vietnam together, and returned on the same flight together. They have remained in contact throught the years and Mike and Linda were at the DC reunion.... I digress.
Back to the VHPA reunion. This year their get-together(25th) happened to be in San Antonio, so we decided it was so close to home we should attend. Ray registered for the reunion and booked rooms at the reunion hotel-
Marriott Rivercenter- definitely a place I could hang out in the future. The reunion began with a reception for the first time attendees on Wednesday night. At registration I had a funny thing happen. Everyone registered with the reunion was given a name badge with a bright yellow lanyard. Our name badges were not in our registration packet, so we had to wait to have them printed. A nice young lady asked us our names, hometown, Ray's call sign (Sabre Spoon) ..... and when asking for my information wanted to know what my reference would be- First Wife or Second Wife or Original Wife or Trophy Wife.... I offhandedly said "Only Wife" and that was what she printed!!! Later when I was telling my mom about this, before I could tell her what I said she said exactly the same thing- ooooooohhhhhh that is scary!!! BAck to Wednesday evening, after registration and first time attendees reception, was a buffet dinner as the opening welcome for all of the reunion. We met several people that evening, but Ray didn't see anyone he flew with in Vietnam.
The agenda for Thursday and Friday included several "tours" of the San Antonio area, a golf tournament, the New Braunfels Fourth of July parade, mini-reunions of various outfits, a poker tournament....... all of which we chose to pass up and returned home Wednesday night after the opening buffet.
FRIDAY EVENING(4th of July). This was the only evening the reunion did not have an official function, giving the pilots a chance to get out and try local cuisine. Ray continued to "look" for pilots he knew. Do you know how hard it is to recognize someone after 35 years??? It is even harder to read name badges that hang on a lanyard at your navel!!! After an hour of sitting in the lobby/bar we decided to go to the
Riverwalk This is really the heart of San Antonio tourism. Ray had made reservations at
Boudro's - one of our favorite restaurants on the Riverwalk. Unfortunately they were for 9:30pm and it was only 4:00 when we started our walk along the river. About 4:30 the skies started getting very dark and by 4:45 we were running for cover at Casa Ole- of course they don't want you to just sit and take up room- which "required" us to order a margaritaontherockswithsalt while we waited for the rain to let up. Casa Ole is just across the river from Boudro's, so once the rain let up, we decided to see if maybe they had openings any earlier for dinner. Fortunately they were able to seat us right then- so dinner was at 5:30 instead of 9:30. Several groups from VHPA came into Boudro's while we were there. Obviously many of the pilots have made this reunion their summer vacations, bringing their families and making plans with other pilots to meet every year. For the newbies, the groups were not yet formed. And Ray continued to look for names or faces he knew, to no avail. After a while, he realized Saturday afternoon was going to be his chance to see others from the 1/9th Air Cav- F Troop when they had their mini-reunion. So Friday night became our official "Anniversary dinner on the Riverwalk". By 7:00 we were on the Riverwalk again. We headed back to the hotel and (here is where my story connects to my opening line) of all things, decided to go to the hotel's fitness center. Ray had never been on a treadmill or eliptical or even used weight machines before. He was totally intrigued. We got on the treadmill and walk/jogged for 30 minutes, varying the incline and speeds. Then I showed him how to use several of the weight machines. The Marriott has an incredible fitness center as well as an indoor/outdoor pool with hot tub and sauna. Like I said, I could easily live here. After the workout, we went outside the pool on a beautiful deck (4th floor overlooking downtown- lights- cabana bar- fire tables..... you get the ambiance) for a nightcap. It was a great evening.
SATURDAY JULY 5TH
Ray's morning was spent in the VHPA General Meeting. I went to a new Mexican Art museum, about 15 blocks from the hotel- at the mercado. On my way back to the hotel I rummaged around a Goodwill store (no great finds) and stopped by
San Fernando Cathedral -the very center of San Antonio- a point in the floor under the dome of the church is where all mileage from San Antonio is taken. I once stood at that point with Monsignor Stuebben and sang to my students to demonstrate the amazing acoustics in the cathedral- not bad for a small town protestant girl- especially one that doesn't sing very well. Once again I digress.....
Now here is a CRAZY story. One of the couples we visited with was due to an unexpected meeting on the elevator. Saturday morning we were on our way to breakfast on a semi-full elevator. One of the people to get on with us was a lady about our age wearing a VHPA name badge. She looked at Ray's badge and said "oh, you are from Uvalde". My response "You must be from Texas because you know how to say Uvalde." She laughed and said "One of my best friends' mother lives in Uvalde. I don't know her last name, but her first name is Annie Lee." I asked "Could it be DuBose". "Yes, that's it"....... She was amazed when Ray said, "She's my aunt- my mother's sister". Seems that she lived across the street from Charlotte E. in Roswell and her kids grew up with Mikey. She and Charlotte helped each other through divorces and she(Jan) and her husband(Ron) introduced Charlotte to Luis (the pilot connection- also, Ron is Luis' CPA in San Angelo). What a small world. I think Ray enjoyed his visit with Ron as much as I did my visit with Jan. She is a social worker who now specializes in VA work. She has been a production ceramist when she had to support her family before she started her social work. We had LOTS to talk about!! I hope we can see them again in the future.
Our Saturday afternoon was in a meeting listening to discussion about VA benefits, Ray's mini-reunion, and a nap before the evening gala.
The evening gala was great..... if you don't talk about the food. The Marriott's food service for the large events left much to be desired. And at $45 (Wed.) and $75 (Sat.) per plate, we really expected better quality. That said- the opportunity to visit with other heli pilots and wives was priceless. The evening opened with a tribute to the missing men after the posting of colors. The Missing Man table was set and the emcee read a tribute to thos who didn't return-
I tried to record the Missing Man tribute, but wasn't successful.
Here is one interpretation you can read(the one read to us was adapted to fit specifically helicopter pilots)- each part of the the table setting has meaning, the salt, the lemon, the rose vase, the helmet, shoes, flight vest, upside down glass..... A very moving tribute- one that many of the pilots had a hard time getting through.
The end of the evening was a dance with an incredible group from Austin playing,
The Reunion Band, who taylored their sets to 50s-70s music.... just our era. Lots of swing and jive and movin' around going on. Some of those old geezers were using moves they hadn't used in years. I know my old geezer got up Sunday morning complaining about how sore he was..... between the treadmill and the dancefloor we started a new workout regimen for him!!
Ray's only disappointment of the weekend was that he saw only one pilot he flew with in Vietnam. Paul L. was a few years older, a Captain, who flew Cobras. Ray said "I ran into one guy who was in my Air Cav Unit and that I flew front seat for a number of times in a Cobra. He was very crazy back then, but I guess I was a little also. I wasn’t rated in Cobras, but we were short of gun jocks so when I wasn’t flying Hueys, I was gunner/copilot in a snake. Not too smart for longevity but very exciting for a 24 year old. "
The VHPA reunion had some good things to offer as far as VA connections and national lobbyists that are important to keep in contact with. But, I think the comraderie of the smaller flight class reunions and the
Bullwhip Squadron gatherings are where Ray has had more personal contacts and enjoyed reliving his Vietnam experience with others who were there with him.
It was a good weekend.
